Hooked, Book #1
Holly’s Take
Heat Factor: The two sex scenes are pretty detailed, but there are only two of them
Character Chemistry: Her magic doesn’t suck his happiness away. It’s fate!
Plot: Cooper doesn’t want to be king, so he asks Brook to do a marriage of convenience with him. Apparently marrying an American means he automatically abdicates. (???) Plot twist: Brook is a mermaid and discovers she’s the real heir to the throne.
Overall: The pacing was off…it was like: solid start, slow, slow, slow, INTRIGUE!, denouement.
Ingrid’s Take
Heat Factor: It had moments of heat but was largely pretty mild.
Character Chemistry: They’re fated mates and I guess fated rulers.
Plot: He’s supposed to be king. She’s supposed to be a human nobody. But actually she’s a mermaid with royal lineage and it’s enough to throw everything into chaos.
Overall: It feels like a very long start to something and that didn’t actually develop into its cohesive, finished result.
Erin’s Take
Heat Factor: There’s a bit of dissonance between the perfection of their coming together and, like, everything else about their relationship.
Character Chemistry: They’re basically fated mates.
Plot: She’s a nobody, except she just has no idea that she’s not a nobody, and he’s a bastard prince who grew up outside the kingdom but is somehow inheriting the throne because of Reasons, which she is supposed to fix but doesn’t.
Overall: I was extremely confused. Also this relationship contains most of the “I’m leaving now” drama that I actively dislike.
The Smut Report 